Agenda item

The Committee considered the third report in connection with the childhood obesity review, containing information relating to the work going on in schools and through the Council on improving nutritional understanding and increasing physical activity amongst children and their families.

Schools had a delegated budget to cover school catering for which individual governing bodies had responsibility.  In the Borough there was currently a mix of catering services including packed lunch only schools, dining centres where food was transported from one site to another, and those who have full production kitchens.  A major provision was through the central contract (running until 2015) between Cambridge Education and ISS Education, providing the meals for 16 primary schools (1 packed lunch only).  The report gave details of the typical meal make-up under the central contract requirement, which cost £1.75 to £2.00.  In addition to school lunch provision, there were 18 breakfast clubs and 10 after school clubs in Slough Primary Schools.  Census data and figures from the annual school food survey showed that 2389 (20%) of pupils were entitled to free school meals but only 75% took up the offer.  There were a number of projects linked to the school food survey aimed at improving school food and now the School Food Plan, supported by the Government, had been published setting out action points for headteachers on how to transform what children eat at school and how they learn about food.

Arising from discussion and answers to questions given by Joanne Ricketts, the Council’s Nutritional Adviser, the following points were made:

• The Council was rolling out to schools (all but one had signed up) a software package which enabled parents to enter basic identification data and check the eligibility of their children for free school meals, usually with a same day result.  The reasons why some families did not take up the offer of free school meals offered were not really known
• There was lots of advice and information available for caterers, parents and schools on healthy packed lunches.  Packed Lunch workshops were organised, leaflets were available and lunchtime controllers were also engaged in getting the message across.  The concern about packed lunches was generally about balance and ensuring a content of protein, a starchy item and fruit or vegetable.
• The government plans to introduce universal school meals for all Key Stage 1 children would be difficult to manage, as while many of Slough’s primary schools have increased classroom capacity, there has been no corresponding increase in kitchen or dining area facilities.  It was hoped that by clever timetabling and enlisting the assistance of the central contractor, workable arrangements could be achieved.
• The central contract had been very successful in terms of providing good quality, nourishing meals at a stable price for the schools involved.  It was hoped that more schools would join when the contract came due for renewal in 2015 but the approach of the Academies and Free Schools was unknown at this stage.

The report went on to outline the role of the Slough School Sport Network (SSSN) to increase the number of PE and Sport opportunities for young people in Slough, to help schools to provide and ethos of physical education and healthy lifestyles, and engage all young people in physical activity.  The SSSN provides the School Games programme (Government agenda) offering opportunities for all students to take part in competitive school sport, at a variety of levels.  Last year, the School Games for primary, secondary and special schools in Slough provided 35 competitive events and offered 20 different sports across Years 1 to 13.  Slough won 39% of the Level 3 county competitions.

The Committee heard from Mary Sparrow, Head of Wexham School Specialist Sports College and Chair of the SSSN, and Laura Brookstein, Network Manager, on detailed aspects of the programmes provided and answered questions from members.  While the School Games were important, there were many other benefits provided by the SSSN, including:

·  high quality, market leading, continual professional development for teachers

·  National Governing Bodies of Sport specialist coaching programmes

·  Healthy Lifestyles and advice on Change4Life national initiatives

·  the facility for schools to share good practice and network

·  assistance to schools on external funding bids eg. Olympic Legacy funding, Sportivate etc.

The Committee noted that SSSN played an important role in broadening the range of sports schools could offer, with particular help for smaller schools on making the best use of the space and funding available to them.  Girls were getting more involved with sports now there was a wider range on offer, dance being particularly popular.  Schools generally maintained the two hours of PE per week recommended for the curriculum, supplemented by pre-school, lunchtime and after school activities. Most schools with pitches or court facilities made these available for community use when not required by the school.

The Committee turned to consider Council programmes to improve the uptake of physical activity, what was on offer outside of school and how the different, relevant services within the Council linked together.  There were a number barriers affecting children and young people’s choice and opportunity to engage in sport and physical activity, including gender and cultural issues, social and family influences, cost and dislike of team sports.  However, the wide range of programmes and opportunities available was aimed at catering for all interests.  Alison Hibbert, the Council’s Head of Culture and Sport, expanded on matters in the report and answered questions from members.  It was noted that:

• While there were over 90 active sports clubs in the area catering for children and junior members, the clubs (mostly run by volunteers) needed to be supported to continue, particularly in the light of more onerous measures that now had to be in place when working with children and young people.
• Some programmes offered were very popular, for instance, the Swim Skool programme was oversubscribed.  The free swimming programme was now only available to over 60s.
• An area where there was felt to be scope for a lot more work was around encouraging many more children to walk or cycle to school to increase physical activity.  This included work with parents to allow this to happen, the children themselves, and physical measures to ensure safe walking and cycling was possible.  Having the right emphasis in School Transport Plans could assist in this and it was noted that the Neighbourhoods and Community Services Scrutiny Panel had considered the issue in early 2013, and a working group had been set up to consider programmes of work which could increase the use of sustainable transport during the school run.
• The Slough Physical Activity and Sport Strategy 2013-15 was about to be published, which placed emphasis on the collaborative approach required between organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors to meet the needs of Slough for physical activity and sport in order to make Slough a healthier and more active place to live.  Members requested they be sent copies of the Strategy when it had been finalised.

Resolved –

(a)  That thanks be extended to all who had contributed and participated in the debate, noting the excellent work taking place in schools in the Borough and through Council programmes to improve nutritional understanding and increase physical activity levels.

(b)  That the information provided in the Committee report and arising from the discussion at the meeting be drawn on to compile the final report for the obesity review.